Green buildings in the tropics (timber commercial buildings)

• Main Author: Low, Justin Zhi Herng
• Other Authors: Chuang Poon Hwei
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/78148
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

There have been efforts to shift the built environment towards being more sustainable and environmentally friendly in recent years. This initiative has seen new technologies being implemented in the building and construction industry. One of the latest innovations is the introduction of engineered timber as a construction material for buildings. This project will focus on timber buildings in the tropical region which has a hot and humid environment. The use of engineered timber on a proposed commercial building will be the highlight of the study. The report also presents case studies on existing engineered timber buildings in the tropical region of various uses. The methods of construction using engineered timber chosen from the case studies will be adapted into the proposed commercial building. The proposed commercial building is a shopping mall. The shopping mall will be constructed mainly from engineered timber. Its structural system (beams and columns), walls and floors will be built from engineered timber. The mall will also utilize green features such as air vents to allow for natural ventilation and green roofs for natural insulation from the heat of the day. To check the the feasibility of the proposed commercial building, evaluations of existing commercial buildings constructed from engineered timber were done. These evaluations support the possibility of having a shopping mall that is constructed from engineered timber. Furthermore, energy savings and reduction in embodied carbon add to the advantage of constructing a commercial building using engineered timber coupled with green features. As the scope of this report only covers the conceptualization of an engineered timber shopping mall, further studies can be done using a simulation software program such as the EnergyPlus 8.2 to study in-depth the feasibility of using engineered timber on a larger scale such as that of commercial buildings in the tropical region. Moreover, as research materials about timber buildings in the tropics is still scarce and mainly concentrated in colder climates, more can be done to truly explore the potential of engineered timber for construction in the tropical region.